South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa re-elected as president after dramatic late coalition deal
- The agreement between the ANC and the white-led Democratic Alliance – once its fiercest foe – was signed just hours before the vote
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was re-elected by lawmakers on Friday after his African National Congress party struck a dramatic late coalition deal with the main opposition party and others to allow him to clinch a second term in office.
Ramaphosa won convincingly in a parliament vote against surprise candidate Julius Malema, the leader of the far-left Economic Freedom Fighters, who was also nominated. Ramaphosa got 283 votes to Malema’s 44 in the 400-member house.
The 71-year-old Ramaphosa secured his second term with the help of lawmakers from the second biggest Democratic Alliance party and others after the ANC lost its 30-year parliamentary majority in a landmark election two weeks ago. The ANC signed an agreement with the DA – once its fiercest political foe – just hours before the vote for president, ensuring Ramaphosa returned as leader of Africa’s most industrialised economy.
The parties will now co-govern South Africa in its first national coalition where no party has a majority.
The deal, which parties referred to as a government of national unity, brings the ANC together in government with the DA, a white-led party that had for years been the main opposition and the main rival for the ANC. At least two other smaller parties are also part of the agreement that put South Africa into uncharted waters.
